China hails UN's anti-Internet terrorism resolution

BEIJING - China on Wednesday hailed a UN Security Council resolution on fighting Internet terrorism, urging stronger international cooperation in this field.

"We hope the international community can beef up cooperation against Internet terrorism and jointly counter online terrorist activities by forces such as the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM)," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted the anti-Internet terrorism resolution 2129, and agreed to extend the mandate of the executive office of its Counter-Terrorism Committee till the end of 2017.

Hua told the briefing that the resolution has for the first time clearly requested countries take specific measures to counter Internet terrorism, and thus is of great significance to combating such activities by groups or individuals.

The Internet has become an important tool for terrorist activities, Hua said, with terrorist groups increasingly recruiting members, spreading violent propaganda, raising funds and planning attacks online.

Internet terrorism has posed serious harm and has become an important topic for global anti-terrorism efforts, she said.

Noting China has been a victim of Internet terrorism, she said the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces, as represented by the ETIM, have published many audio and video products to stir up so-called Jihad against the Chinese government in recent years.

This has become one of the major and direct reasons for increasing terrorist attacks in China, in particular, in its Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to the spokeswoman.

The ETIM had claimed responsibility for the Tian'anmen attack in October in which five people were killed and 40 others injured.

After that incident, the ETIM has continued to incite terrorist attacks against the Chinese government, Hua said.

"Online terrorism by 'East Turkistan' terrorist forces such as the ETIM not only pose a threat to China's security and stability, but help fuel international terrorist and extremist ideas and threaten the world's security and stability," Hua said.